The present invention is directed to approaches for presenting episodic advertisements. Episodic advertisements are advertisements made up by a plurality of advertisements intended to be viewed in an ordered sequence. The entire sequence tells a story, and each advertisement of the sequence is part of the story (i.e., each advertisement of the sequence is an episode within the episodic advertisement). Episodic advertisements may provide a higher level of entertainment than conventional advertisements, and thus spark a high level of interest in the product or service being advertised. One illustrative episodic advertisement chronicled the adventures of Jerry Seinfeld and Superman as they used a particular credit card.
In current viewing environments, a user may experience an episodic advertisement out of order. The user could, for example, begin watching an episodic advertisement in the middle of the ordered sequence. Or, a user could miss viewing an advertisement of the sequence while channel surfing. In each of these situations, the user misses part of the story told by the episodic advertisement. As a result, the episodic advertisement may become less effective in promoting the product or service being advertised.